🔗 Networking your (Linux) Machines (WHY2025)

Let's learn about L2 isolation with VLANs and dive into basic network architecture with OPNsense. After playing a bit with IPv4, let's discuss unicorn-issues IPv6 for your homelab-ing. Then expanding with WireGuard for simple inter-machine networks. Finally, we will take a look into a fail of my own via "security"(-by-obscurity) and a few words of how to defend against it. This talk will discuss the security considerations one should make for their own network at home. The first step, to achieve network segmentation, is the use of VLANs - but how do they work? Then advancing into isolated networks using OPNsene and how to configure routing between them (in a more or less scalable way, purely based on experience). After breaking up (with) your networks, we will take a look into IPv6 troubles you'll likely encounter when you begin applying more strict rulesets onto your network and start leaving NAT-ting behind you. This will also include a quick summary of the most important IPv6-terms you'll need. Instead of exposing your services publicly, one can also establish site-to-site (S2S) links with well-known parties, so we will take a quick look into getting WireGuard up and running - once again with some pitfalls you may encounter. In the end, we will take a brief detour into how one could exploit one of my own mistakes (DNS-based routing without application of source-ip filtering). Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ about this event: https://program.why2025.org/why2025/talk/XZRAHF/